Fire shutter



June 14, 1927. 1,632,219

G. E. DELL-ER FIRE SHUTTER Filed July so, 1926 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 14, 1927.

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Application filed iluly so, 1926. Serial no. 126,088.

My invention relates to fire screensand particularly to a novel fire sliutter'ot the roller type which is adapted to roll up on a roller during periods when it is elevated to allow access through the fire partition over the opening in which the screen is mounted.

It is the object of my inventionto provide in a roller type fire shutter for a novel style of slat or individual screen section 'which will readily engage adjacent screen sections and so form a composite shutter. It is a further object to provide a screen composed of a plurality of sections which will adapt itself to lie in a circular path during the period of elevation in rolled up position, without tending to either stick or kink. A further object is to incorporate in a slat, a reinforcing rib or flattened surface which will increase the strength of the slat and prevent bending and which will provide a maximum of peripheral bearing during rolled up position. It is an object to dispose the rib or flattened surface of each screen slat so that the assembled screen will have the appearance of being made up of an increased number of slats.

Structurally, I have as my object the construction of a slat which in combination with other similar slats with which the screen or shutter is made up, there will be such equal distribution of weight that in extended position the weight of the screen will be evenly balanced with respect to a vertical line drawn through the points of suspension of the individual screen slats.

It is my-object to provide a suitable slat with as little waste of material as possible and further to so form the metal that it will not be fabricated at such an acute angle as will tend to break the fibers of the metal.

The above and other objects which will be explained during the ensuing description I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I have shown a preferred embodiment.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of the fire screen composed of three slats.

Figure 2 is an end elevation of a single slat.

My preferred slat structure consists of a strip of metal with a central rib 1 bent into amaroximately what will be a vertical line when the slat is suspended in the shutter. From the central: flat rib, the slat is'bent in very wide obtuse angled portions extending across a median line such as is indicated at 22, in an upwardly direction as indicated at 3, and in a downwardly direction at L. The edge of the portion extending upwardly is bent into a concave hook 5 and the edge of the portion extending downwardly is bent in a reversely curved hook 6. The hook 5 of the upper edge is of smaller diameter than the hook 6 of the lower edge so that when slats are linked together, the weather side of the screen which is indicated in the drawing will have no slits exposed to the weather which will tend to cause rusting and other kinds of deteriora tion.

When the shutter is rolled up on a roller, the individual slats will lie in close loops which allows a great length of shutter to be rolled about a roller without creating such a large roll diametrically that the rolled up screen requires undue space for its installation. g

It may be seen that the slat at no place has any angles greater than right angles, the lower hook 6 being bent at a right angle from the plane of the part 4. This has a twofold advantage because it provides; the covering of a greater amount of area with the same amount of material.

The last few years have brought about the almost complete interruption of any other than galvanized sheets or strips in the manufacture of rolling steel doors, and the need of a slat formation with induring qualities and having the original properties of the material as little impaired as possible is a pressing need. Sharp, acute, and receding angles are formed in metal slats for the use herein described only under great pressure, and with much friction in the process of folding to form, causing a breaking and peeling of any rust resisting coating, leaving the metal subject to corrosion and deterioration. Further, the use oflesser bends as I disclose to affect a sturdy formation, permits the use, without splitting, of metal of a higher temper, thus securing a greater rigidity, when it is desired, without radically increasing the gauge of metal used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: c

A slat for a rolling fire shutter having a Weatherside, said slat comprising an elongated piece of metal having a flat horizontal rib extending in a vertical plane across the horizontal medial line of the slat, and upper and lower portions of said sheet metal piece inclined at oblique angles in opposite directions from the upper and lower edges of said horizontal rib respectively, and hook shaped return bent portions and extending in opposite directions formed at edges of said obliquely inclined portions, .said hook shaped portions at the upper edge being of tions of the lower edge, said obliquely an-.

gled portions inclining from said rib away from the weather side of said slat, and the 4 hooked portion at the lower edge formed with not less than an angle of ninety degrees with said lower obliquely inclined portion, providing such a balance of weight, that substantially equivalent weights of the metal of the slat will be equally disposed with reference to a vertical line extended through said slat, and so that when freely suspended said flat rib will lie parallel with reference to said aforementioned vertical GEORGE E. DELLER.

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